I bought a 6 volt and and a new regulator for my cub. Polarized the regulator. Seems to be a minimal amount of charge. The needle barely goes into the positive side. When I turn the lights on it goes to the discharge side(10-15). It might make it up to -5 discharge.

I've checked the wiring on the amp gauge and they are on the correct side. It is a 3 position switch and I noticed the resistor is broken. I stretched it a little to connect it to terminal. Can this be causing my charging issues?

Do the light switches go bad or just the resistor?

When I take a wire from field to ground it starts charging. I've read on another forum that this means It is a wire from the generator to light switch or the light switch itself is messed up. The instruction from the regulator says the regulator is bad.

When I put a volt meter at the battery it reads 9- 10.5 with the tractor running. When I checked it at the amp meter(red to amp meter and black to ground) it reads 1- 4 volts.

Am I using the volt meter correctly?

Do amp gauges go bad?

I've had the cub running a total of a couple of hours(starting and stoppng in between) and it has not discharged the battery. Although I did not do this with the lights always on.

What else can I look for?I've had the generator tested. It seems to be fineThis is 6 volt positive ground 53 Cub

I've had this cub for 12 years and always had charging issues. I would just buy a new regulator every year. It would charge for a while and then go into total discharge.I would ruin the 6 volt battery and I would put a 12 volt battery because it would last longer on a charge. End up ruining the points/condenser and sometimes the coil. I would repeat process every couple years. I would like to get the charging system to do what it's supposed to do.

and tell us if yours seems closer to Diagram 2, 3 or 4. In other words, does it have a mag or a distributor, and does the F terminal on the generator go to the F terminal on the regulator, or to the switch.

Once you have identified it, then you can use diagrams 7 & 8 to troubleshoot.

When I put a volt meter at the battery it reads 9- 10.5 with the tractor running.

I suspect that you have a cutout relay, and the field resistor at the back of the switch(similar to diagram 3).

You didn;t say which resistor is loose,broken, but if it is the field resistor, then that may be causing your problem.

You are using the meter correctly, it sounds like. The voltage reading at the ammeter:

(red to amp meter and black to ground) it reads 1- 4 volts.

sounds a bit funky. The current from the generator passes through the ammeter to teh battery, so you should read(just about) the same voltage at the ammeter as you do at the battery.

You didn't say whether you hooked the battery up positive or negative ground-from your description of teh voltage at the ammeter, it sounds like it may be negative ground. Stock config for a 6V tractor would be positive ground("+" on the battery to frame of tractor). If you swap it, make sure to repolarize the generator(the generator is what you polarize, not the regulator).

Andy Wander

UBE, PA

'52 Farmall Cub "Wile E."

'72 Int'l Cub "Bugs Backhoe"

"Men are from Earth; Women are from Earth. Deal with it!" (attributed to George Carlin)

1953It is a 6 volt positive ground systemlight switch is a 3 position switch with just a dimmer resistor. I quess that is whats broke.It looks like diagram 2It is a distributorField goes to the regulatorThe regulator has four tabs gen, line, batt and field.

When jumped gen to batt on regulator to polarize, the regulator did not snap like I remember the other regulators did. It made very little spark.Is there anything I can look at in the regulator since most place don't take back electrical componets. Or can a tractor repair shop test it for sure to see if it is indeed the new regulator?

I used to cut grass with her, but bought new zero turn. She is seriously not happy!